Books

About
Design
EVERY FOUNDER SHOULD READ
Intro
Thanks for downloading this short guide. In
Hey There!
it, you’ll discover the most important books any
founder or small business owner should read.
The topics span from branding to UX, design This free ebook is production of Design for
thinking and DIY graphic design. Founders brand. If you’re looking to learn more
For each book, I also included a quote from about design, I encourage you to check out our
the book’s review that most stuck with me while blog at designforfounders.com/category/blog.
doing research on these books. Hope you’ll enjoy Feel free to email, tweet, blog, and pass this
the list! ebook around the web, just don’t alter any of its
contents. Thanks!
- Heidi Pungartnik
owner of Design for Founders
 100 Things Every Designer
UX Design for Startups Needs to Know About People

Marcin Treder Susan Weinschenk

Design for Founders
Short and sweet. Well written and explained, Packed with key tips, this book offers print
Heidi Pungartnik and web designers — as well as writers —
with a lot of tools and useful advice. A pleasant
Strategic and practical. This is the best guide read altogether. ”inside information” to keep in mind as each

I’ve read for founders looking to understand strives to produce work that will “hit its mark”

design principles and learn how to implement and effectively connect with the intended

them in their startup. [audience].

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 The 22 Immutable Laws of
Branding UX for Lean Startups: Faster,
Designing for the Web
Smarter User Experience
Al Ries and Laura Ries Research and Design
Mark Boulton
It’s a good, fun read with many useful
A good and concise step into the web design. Laura Klein
examples worth keeping in mind when
The intention to go deep into the basics of
developing marketing strategies. Just because you’re not an artist is no longer
graphic theory is very welcoming and make
an excuse for you to avoid the topic of user
this book a good reference to check and share
experience when creating any type of project.
with web enthusiasts.

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Bootstrapping Design
Jarrod Drysdale
The best part is easily how ruthlessly
practical the book is. I love how it’s always
saying things like, “Here’s what the experts
do. That’s hard/complex. Stick to these simple
guidelines and you’ll get decent results.”
Design for Hackers
Don’t Make Me Think
David Kadavy
Steve Krug
Kadavy does a fantastic job taking the
It’s especially a great book for small business complete design beginner through the
owners and soloprenuers who can’t spend important parts of design. From a hacker’s
much money for web help. point of view, this book is brilliant, and exactly
what I needed.

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Hooked
Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover
This book lays down a model building
engagement by having users constantly return
to your app.
Landing Page Optimization
Tim Ash, Maura Ginty, and Rich Page
The book provides you with excellent
guidance for analyzing your current website
and determining how to make it easier for the
visitor to use and, more importantly, easier for
the user to do what you need them to do.
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Lean UX: Applying Lean
Principles to Improve User
Experience
Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden
I loved that this book is pretty small. It
definitely keeps with the “Lean” theme. All too
often, these technical books get too wordy and
bogged down.
 The UI Audit
The Non-Designer’s Design Change by Design Jane Portman
Book
Tim Brown Pre-launch. A snippet from the landing page:
Robin Williams This concise, no-fluff manual will teach you
If you have an interest in Design Thinking
how to audit and optimize your UI for customer
The book is easily read and understood or just want to know more about the topic, get
success.
and the author is serious but light hearted; this book now.
you cannot help but learn from it. I also liked
her attitude and her resources. The book is a
keeper!

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 Words, cover and book design © Heidi
Pungartnik, 2016. Fonts used are Klinic Slab
designed by Joe Prince and Lust designed by Neil

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Designing Web Applications License.
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Nathan Barry mentioned or used are the property of their

Nathan’s approach to design makes creating respective owners. Every effort has been made to
A Book Missing? properly capitallize, punctuate, identify, inform,
easy-to-use web applications a straight-
forward process anyone can follow. You reached the end of this list. Got something and attribute trademarks and tradenames to their

to add? Great. I’m looking forward to your respective owners.

suggestions! Author does not assume and hereby disclaim

Click here to send in your suggestions.
any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or
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There are no affiliate links in this ebook.
For more information on this ebook, reach out
to hello@designforfounders.com.

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 This free ebook is production of Design for
Founders brand. If you’re looking to learn more
about design, I encourage you to check out our
resources page to download more ebooks:

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ebook around the web, just don’t alter any of its
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